Unitel La Paz

Unitel La Paz is the Unitel owned-and-operated station for the city of La Paz, capital of Bolivia. The station was the generating station of the former Telesistema Boliviano network, disbanded in the late 90s. The station is available nationwide on Inter Satelital, alongside the Santa Cruz station.

History

Telesistema Boliviano (TSB), the initial licensee, was founded on November 22, 1983, as the first commercial television company in Bolivia, granting the license to operate in La Paz on channel 2. The channel was the opposite of ATB (channel 9) in some way, as the channel provided "quality programming" over political preferences.

Experimental broadcasts started on February 12, 1985, before becoming regular on April 14, 1985, being owned by Antonio Maldonado. On weekdays the channel broadcast for seventeen hours on average (7am to 12am) and twelve on weekends (11am to 11pm). The station's owner was Antonio Maldonado, while its administration was up to brothers Ángel Carlos and Rosa Virgilia Cardona, owners of the ''Perspectiva'' magazine. With its transmitter located at Sopocachi, it captured signals from foreign television stations, mainly news and key sporting events.

In the early 90s, its local newscast was presented by priest Eduardo Pérez, who left the station in 1994 to concentrate on a radio career. At the time, Juan Pablo Guzmán was the head of its news division, and Pérez during his stay with TSB appeared in a soccer uniform to present the sports segment and attached to a noose in order to protest a gag rule to an extent where he started to suffer from asphyxiation.

With the dissolution of TSB, the station briefly became a part of the newly-formed Bolivisión network, alongside Galavisión and Antena Uno, Bolivisión later bought the license to broadcast on channel 5. After the rift that led to the creation of the Unitel network, the legal entity behind channel 2 in La Paz was, as late as 2002, still granted to Telesistema Boliviano.

The station's relay in El Alto was heavily damaged in November 2019.Quema instalaciones Unitel: “Me quisieron maniatar pero logré zafarme de ellos y me subí a la antena”
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Programming

Original

*''Telepaís''
*''La Revista''
*''La Batidora''
*''Señor Cine'' (Saturday)
*''Señor Cine Premier'' (Sunday)
*''Cine Mágico''
*''Cine Aventura''

Acquired

*''The Simpsons'' (20th Television)
*'' Al fondo hay sitio'' ( América)
*''Cine Cantinflas'' (Movies of Cantinflas) ( Posa Films)
*''Alas rotas'' ( ATV)
*''Caso Cerrado'' (Telemundo)
*'' Golden Boy'' ( Star TV)
*''Maricucha'' ( América)
*''El Señor de los Cielos'' (Telemundo)
*'' Super Libro'' (CBN)
*'' Tierra Amarga'' ( ATV)
*''The Looney Tunes Show'' (Warner Bros.)
*''Tom and Jerry'' (Warner Bros.)

Sports events

* ''FIFA World Cup''
* ''Copa América''

References

{{Unitel Bolivia

Spanish-language television stations
Television in Bolivia
Television channels and stations established in 1985
Mass media in La Paz